Do You Know What Stars Are?
by CaliTues
Summary: "Do you even know what stars are?" He asked as he pushed off from the dock with his foot. Taking both of the oars in his hands, he began rowing towards the mainland. When she offered to help, he shook his head. He didn't need her. AU
1. When You're Older, You'll Understand

** Roxiri. (It was originally going to be Namine. But, as you guys have noticed. Kairi pawns Namine in my book. Whilst Xion can die.) This is mainly just to set the, well, standard for future...tellings. This story will mainly focus on, well. I got the idea from a mixture of star gazing, Airplanes, and the like. Flying. Branching out if you will. Different, meg different style from the last chaptered thing I did. I have the next (first) chapter ready, which, will follow shortly. **

**Prologue: When You're Older, You Will Understand.**

"Watch me!" The small five year old was standing on the top of a shack, flapping his arms, having scrambled to the top to prove his point to his friend.

"But Roxas! Your mom says people can't fly!" She was nervous. What if he got hurt, maybe she should get someone?

"Don't be sucha baby Kairi!" He spat back at her. He knew he shouldn't have brought her with him. He then turned away from her and looked off at the ocean. This was his chance. To prove to her and to everyone else he could fly. And so he jumped.

Needless to say, when the boy jumped off the roof, he broke his leg. And this ended with both of the two young children crying until attention was brought to them by a passerby. Roxas's leg was attended to, and a week later, the two sat on the docks, looking at the ocean.

Kairi poked his cast. "Does it hurts still?"

Roxas poked out his chest and rolled his eyes. "No dummy, they gave me candy for it…Except you can't taste it. You have to swallow it." He scrunched his nose. "Momma puts it in my food. And one time, it got stuck here!" He pointed to his throat. He wasn't going to admit to Kairi it had scared him though.

Kairi's mouth dropped. She was appalled at not being able to chew and savor candy of any kind, but to have it mixed with food and then having it get stuck just sounded awful. "Then why not give you candies you can eat and put in your tummy?" She rubbed her stomach.

He shrugged and looked down at his cast. "When it gets off, I'm trying again."

Kairi furrowed her brows. "But then," She put a finger to her chin, thoughtfully, she continued, "it'll come back."

This logic made sense to him and he nodded. They were silent for a few minutes; Roxas was staring at clouds, while Kairi was watching the waves.

"Don't you wanna fly Kairi?" He asked, falling back so he could lie on his back and look up. "And touch those," He pointed towards the seemingly fluffy clouds above them.

Kairi looked up, and then followed his lead, laying back. "Nuh uh." She pointed to a cloud that was above them. "It looks like a puppy."

Roxas followed her finger, and indeed there was a slightly puppy shaped cloud above them. "But, maybe then we could make clouds." He then turned to look at her. "Why don't you want ta fly?"

She looked at him and smiled, showing the gap in her teeth, "S'too high!" Roxas stared at her. Wasn't that the point of wanting to fly? "Like, what if you're up there, and then you fall. You'll get hurt." She pointed to his leg, "Worser than that." She had seen this on TV when her daddy had fallen asleep. Kairi didn't watch much TV with daddy after that.

He huffed. "You're dumb. When you're older, you'll know." Roxas adored the fact he was older than her by a year. And he brought it to her attention quite often. "If you're flying, you won't fall." He didn't know why he tried to explain _anything_ to Kairi.

Kairi looked away, and looked back up at the clouds. "What if you can't fly anymore?"

Roxas stared at her. What if he couldn't? But, he couldn't now. So maybe if he learned, he wouldn't forget, and would always be able to. But instead of agreeing with her, he shrugged, mumbling an "I'll always know." under his breath.

"Roxas?"

"What?" He hoped she wasn't going to make him look stupid again.

"When you learn how to fly, I wanna learn too, okay?"

The two turned to each other. Roxas nodded, and she smiled. "I'll teach you."

"Promise?" She held out her pinky finger.

Roxas nodded, and wrapped his small finger around hers. "Promise."

**I think, I really need to work on my, er. Well. Childhood scenes. These kids suck. So that's mainly why I didn't just scrap this in the first place. Critique is much appreciated on these, well, endeavors. Review if you will. And if you don't, remember, I love you too.**


	2. Do You Know What Stars Are?

**AN: In all honesty, this could have been up long ago. But, I sorta forgot. Oops. **

**Chapter One: Do You Know What Stars Are?**

Kairi sighed as she sat on a stool, watching Roxas as he welded two pieces of metal together. He was going on two days without sleep, and she was worried he would end up passing out and becoming one with his slabs of metal.

"Hand me that." She looked up to see him pointing towards another scrap of metal that was bigger than she was.

"Seriously?"

"…Yeah?"

"No."

She heard him mutter a string of curses as he removed his headgear and slammed what he was holding down. He hopped down from the raised platform he was on and walked past her to get what he had asked for. He struggled to lift it, and practically dragged it back to where he was. He then began trying to lift it onto the platform.

"And you wanted me to do that?"

"You're useless."

"I'm just not going to come anymore."

"That's bullshit. You show up now, knowing I don't want you to."

Kairi frowned and turned away from him. She hated helping him. He was always an asshole about _everything_ he said to her. But as much as she hated it, she _wanted_ to. How could she not?

"Lunch sounds great." She quickly turned around to glare at him. "Now."

Kairi huffed as she stood and exited the small shack. He wanted lunch? She'd give him lunch. She continued onto the smaller shack on the other side of the island, where all the extra supplies they kept on the island was stashed, and plotting all of the hot sauces she could put onto his sandwich. Glancing over her shoulder she stuck her tongue out at the shack. She was sure this one would be a fail too. All the others had. They just weren't doing something right.

Roxas was in the middle of making an airplane of sorts. Only, the boy couldn't figure out how to keep it in the air for the life of him. And even when Kairi had a pretty good idea, he still didn't listen to her. And so, selfish as it may be, she hoped this one failed too.

She returned later with a two sandwiches. One for her that was completely safe. And the other filled with week-old mayo. And when she offered him the sandwich, he took the one she held in her other hand.

"I can smell it. I don't even like mayonnaise." Taking a bite out of the sandwich, he turned back to the metal slabs that sat in front of him. "I think it needs to be smoother. More curved maybe?"

Kairi didn't even bother answering. He didn't want her opinion. He was only talking to himself. But she wished he would just listen anyways. Or at least act like he was.

"You coming?" Kairi looked up from her position at his desk. He had pretty much cleaned up the place. Or in other words, given up for the night by pushing everything into a pile.

She stood. Stretched. And then followed him out of the shack. They two walked down the slight incline that lead towards the beach. Kairi couldn't help but keep her eyes locked on the sky. The contrasting dark blue and shining stars.

The two headed for the docks, Roxas holding his bag under his arm. He moved sluggishly. Fighting sleep. He hadn't left the island in three days. He kept saying he was nearing a breakthrough. That in a matter of days, he'd be able to fly. But she doubted it. It was the fourth breakthrough this month.

She stopped walking. Grabbing the back of his shirt. "Look!" He turned to hit her only to see her pointing upwards.

Following her line of vision, he saw what the redhead had attacked him over. A meteor shower. He scoffed and pulled his clothes free of her grasp. "Big deal, I can throw dirt in the sky."

Pouting she watched as he continued on towards the docks before looking back towards the sky. Clasping her hands together and closing her eyes, she silently wished.

"Wishing doesn't get you anywhere, dumb ass." Snapping her head around to glare at him, she saw he was already in the rowboat, preparing to push off. "Hurry up."

She slowly made her way to the boat where he waited, cursing her sluggish movements. Stepping into the small rowboat, she sat opposite of him with a smile.

"Do you even know what stars are?" He asked as he pushed off from the dock with his foot. Taking both of the oars in his hands, he began rowing towards the mainland. When she offered to help, he shook his head.

"Balls of fire." She muttered. Cause really, that's all they were, once they started moving anyway. She sometimes worried what would happen if the stars ever hit the earth. Exploding up the landscape. "You remember what Miss Lockhart said, how that it takes millions of years for light to reach us? Wouldn't the stars burn out?"

"You're an idiot."

"Thanks Roxas. Thanks."

It was nearing morning when the two reached the mainland. She was surprised he had even stayed awake long enough to get them there. Roxas half-mindedly tied the boat to the pier, grabbed his bag, and without a word to her, stumbled off towards his house. Kairi sighed; making sure the boat was tied with a sturdy knot, and then followed behind him.

She knew returning home at this hour would be a mistake, and she knew crashing on his couch, would be less troublesome. Roxas became aware of her shuffling behind him, and when they reached his house, left the door open behind him. It was a mutual thing. He knew, and didn't care.

As she curled into a ball on his couch, a throw blanket pulled over her small form, she counted the time before she heard the crash. Of him stumbling up the stairs, and then when she was able to hear his door close. And then she slept.

**It's short. But they'll all be short. As will this story, by the way. Er. Does anyone know if there's any truth to the whole, stars burning out? I mean, wouldn't a star burn out eventually, and it takes a long time to get- Well. If you know, let me know. I'm too lazy to Google it. Review? **


End file.
